The Bellwether: A Journey Through Beauty Innovation
Thursday, November 12th | Bell Works, Holmdel, NJ
Some events fill a room. This one invites you to explore it.
The NYSCC Innovation Seminar is back — and this year, we’re doing something a little different. The Bellwether is an evening designed for the curious, the creative, and the people who know that the best ideas in beauty often start in a lab.
Walk through an experiential maze of innovation stations, each one a window into where our industry is headed. Discover something unexpected. Talk to the people making it happen. Then gather together for a panel discussion with voices shaping the future of cosmetic science, followed by dinner, conversation, and a little something extra to close the night.
This is your community. Come experience it differently.
The Evening at a Glance
Experience Maze — 3:30–5:15 PM
Explore a curated journey through immersive innovation stations. Fragrance, skin science, ingredient technology, and more — each stop designed to spark curiosity and connection.
Drinks and hors d’oeuvres will be served throughout.
Panel Discussion — 5:30–6:15 PM
A conversation with leading voices in cosmetic science. Thought-provoking, industry-relevant, and not to be missed.
Dinner — 6:15–8:00 PM
A buffet-style dinner to close the evening — good food, great company, and a few surprises along the way.
PANELISTS
Joshua Lee
Panelist
Founder & Owner, Trinity Soft, Inc.
Joshua Lee is the founder of Trinity Soft, a technology company modernizing cosmetic manufacturing through advanced systems and AI analytics. With decades of experience leading enterprise platforms at Englewood Lab, where he served as Vice President of IT, he launched Trinity Soft in 2021 to deliver next-generation digital infrastructure to manufacturers and beauty brands.
Today, multiple factories operate on ARK 2.0, Trinity Soft’s FDA 21 CFR Part 11 compliant business system built for cosmetic production, quality, and compliance. The company also develops Insight, an AI analytics platform that turns operational data into dashboards and natural-language answers for purchasing, inventory, and sales.
Indie Lee
Panelist
Founder, Indie Lee
Indie Lee is the founder of Indie Lee, a clean skincare brand built on high-performance, plant-derived ingredients and a simple belief: what we put on our skin matters as much as what we put in our bodies. A personal turning point led her to rethink the products in her own routine, and she set out to create a line that is grounded in nature, supported by science, and made with ethical choices and safety in mind.
What began at local farmers’ markets has grown into a brand with partnerships at major beauty retailers, a formulation standard that excludes more than 1,300 ingredients, and Leaping Bunny cruelty-free certification since 2012. Education and empowerment remain her driving forces, and she has shared her story on the TEDx stage in a talk titled “From Chaos to Clarity.”
Hang Ma, Ph.D.
Panelist
Associate Professor, University of Rhode Island
Hang Ma, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the College of Pharmacy of the University of Rhode Island (URI). Dr. Ma leads the Bioactive Botanical Research Laboratory at URI. Dr. Ma has over 20 years of research experience in natural product chemistry. His group studies the phytochemical and biological investigations of natural products from medicinal plants and functional foods for their nutraceutical and cosmeceutical applications.
Dr. Ma is the author of over 130 original peer-reviewed research articles and the inventor of an international patent on novel botanical extracts for cosmetics. Dr. Ma holds his Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Pharmaceutical Sciences from URI. Dr. Ma’s memberships include the Society of Cosmetic Chemists and the Chinese American Cosmetic Professional Association. He is also a member of the NYSCC Scientific Committee.
Veronica Reeves
Vice President and General Manager
DMI Solutions Wharton
MAZE STATION PARTICIPANTS
Julio Pina
Maze Station Participant
Founder, The Basset Labs LLC
Julio Pina is the founder of The Basset Labs LLC, a formulating consulting company that collaborates with brands, contract manufacturers, and raw material suppliers to develop innovative formulas and cutting-edge technologies. His career in cosmetics began in 2008 as a lab technician in the powder lab at MANA Products, and he went on to spend 17 years in contract manufacturing before launching his own company.
Julio has worked across powder technologies, color cosmetics, skincare, haircare, SPF, and acne treatments, contributing to the launch of many products for various brands and hundreds of library formulas for contract manufacturers. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry from Queens College and a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration, Marketing from Brooklyn College. He received a 2023 IT Innovation Award for a mineral SPF 50 and served as lead chemist for the educational course Lets Learn About Beauty.
Elena Skountzos
Maze Station Participant
Senior Vice President of Business Development, OnScent
Elena Skountzos brings a career spanning nearly three decades in fragrance marketing, global account leadership, and business development. Her experience includes senior roles at Firmenich, now dsm-firmenich, and International Flavors & Fragrances, with responsibilities across fine fragrance, hair care, air care and personal care. This breadth gives her a perspective on fragrance as both a creative discipline and a driver of business growth.
At OnScent, Elena leads business development with a focus on strategic partnerships, market expansion, and new opportunities for fragrance and beauty innovation. Her background spans multinational customer relationships and brand acceleration, allowing her to understand the different priorities of established businesses and emerging brands. She connects customer ambitions with the creative and technical expertise needed to move concepts forward.
Elena’s approach begins with understanding what makes a brand distinctive and where fragrance can add value. She brings teams together around that opportunity, encouraging close collaboration among marketing, perfumery, ingredient specialists, and customers. Her work at OnScent reflects a commitment to helping brands make informed choices and develop products with a clear identity and purpose.
Marnie McBreen-McErlane
Maze Station Participant
Vice President of Strategic Accounts, OnScent
Marnie McBreen-McErlane brings more than 25 years of experience across fragrance and natural cosmetic ingredients, including a longstanding career with Premier Specialties, now part of OnScent. Her expertise encompasses fragrance strategy and concept selling for personal care and industrial and institutional applications. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from La Salle University.
Marnie’s experience extends beyond the finished fragrance to the ingredients and relationships behind it. Working with global partners has shaped her understanding of responsible sourcing, sustainability, and the communities connected to natural materials.
For Marnie, the most rewarding part of the industry is its people and its constant evolution. She brings that enthusiasm to customer partnerships, combining years of practical experience with an openness to new ideas. Her perspective connects fragrance development with natural ingredient knowledge, helping customers explore opportunities across both areas.
Kamini Barot
Maze Station Participant
Senior Director, Fragrance & Cosmetic Innovation, Americas, OnScent
Kamini Barot brings more than 20 years of experience in specialty ingredients, personal care and fragrance. At OnScent, she works with customers and technical teams across the Americas to connect fragrance and natural ingredient innovation with formulation needs and business opportunities.
Her career includes leadership roles at Orchidia Fragrances, IFF/Lucas Meyer Cosmetics and Naturex/Givaudan. With master’s degrees in Biochemistry and Organic Chemistry, Kamini combines scientific knowledge with commercial experience and an understanding of how ingredients and fragrances come together in finished products.
Kamini enjoys bringing people and ideas together to solve customer challenges. Her approach starts with understanding each customer’s goals, then connecting them with the creative, technical and ingredient expertise needed to move their ideas forward.
Carolina Denman
Maze Station Participant
Co-Founder & Vice President, R&D and Innovation, Haus of Innovation
Carolina Denman is the Co-Founder and Vice President of R&D and Innovation at Haus of Innovation, an ingredient innovation and formulation studio. Her career spans more than a decade across skin care, color, fragrance, and personal care, with roles at Coty, Kolmar Laboratories, TRI-K Industries, and Evolved By Nature, where she most recently served as Senior Director of R&D Applications and Natural Ingredients.
Carolina’s roots in NYSCC run deep. She attended her first NYSCC event close to two decades ago, has served as a chair for the Society’s Awards Night, and led the Innovating with Purpose symposium as Event Chair, where she shared her outlook on the consumer trends shaping tomorrow’s products.
Michelle Tong
Maze Station Participant
Sine Pari
* By registering for this event, you acknowledge that photography and video recording will take place for promotional, educational, and documentary purposes. Images may be used on NYSCC social media, website, marketing materials, and publications.